Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1887-08-06

Chlin Oub OF " lOuTln-SbOiy IL
in summer the strong swimmer at + ast
Il .mp,vn, vi Long Branch, orCapc May.
or Lake George, himself perlshing try
ing to rescue the drowning; as the
ewspaper boy one summer, supporting
his mother for some years. his invalid
mother, when offered by a gentleman
fifty cents to get some especial paper
and he got it, and rushed up in his
an xiety to deliver it, and was crushed
under the wheels of the train, and lay
on the grass with only strength enough
to say ooh. what will become Of my
poor sick mother nowp"
Vicarious suffering. The world is
full OF it. An engineer said to me on
a locomotive in Dakota: ave men
seem to be coming to better apprecia-
ton than we used to. Did you see that
account the other day of an engineer
who to save his passengers stuck to his
place, and when he was found dead IL
the locomotive, which was upside
down. he was found still smiling, his
hand on the air brakep" And as the
engineer said it TO me, he put his hand
on the air brake to illustrate lis mean
ing, and looked at him and thought
"You would be just as much of a hero
in the same crisis"
Oh, in that religious discourse Of the
future there will be living Illustrations
taken out from everyday life of vicari-
ous suffering-illuslrations that will
bring 70 mind the gastlier sacrifice of
Him who in the high places Of the
field, on the cross fought our battles,
and wept our griefs, and endured our
struggle, and died our death.
A German sculptor made an image
of Christ, and he asked his little child
two years old who it was, and she SAID:
''lhat must be some great man" The
sculptor was displeased with the criti-
cisn, so he got another block Of marble,
and chisellcd away on it two or three
years. and then he brought in his little
child, four or five years Of age, and he
said to her: WHO do you think that
isP" She said: That must be the
one who took Ii tie children in His
arms and blessed them" Then the
Sculptor was satisfied. Oh, my friends,
what the world wants is not a cold
Christ, not an intellectual Christ, not
Il severely magisterial Christ, but
LOVING CHRIST,
spreading out His arms of sympathy
to press the whole world to His loving
heart.
But, remark again, that the rcli-
gious discourse Of the future will be
short. Condensation is demanded by
the age in which we live. No more
need of long introductions and long
applications, and so many divisions to
a discourse that it may be said to be
hy~dra-headed. In other days men got
all their information fro the pulpit.
There were few books and there were
no newspapers. and there was little
travel from place to place. and people
would sit and listen two and q halt
hours to a religious discourse, and
"seventeenthly' would find them fresh
and clipper. In those days there was
enough time for u man TO take an hour
to warm himself up to thu subject ard
an hour to cool off. But hat was a
necessity then is a superiority now.
Congregations are full of knowledge
from books, from newspapers. from
rapid and continuous inter-communica-
ton, and long dispositions of what
they know already will not be abided
If a religious teacher cannot compress
what he wishes to say to the people in
the space of forty-five minutes, better
adjourn it to some other day.
TIL TROUBLE WITH II MINISTRY.
The trouble is we preach audiences
into . Christian frame, aud then we
preach them out of it. We forget that
every auditor has so much capacity of
attention, and when that is exhausted
he is restless. That accident on the
Long Island railroad some years ago
came from the fact that the brakes
were out of order, and when they
wanted 10 stop the train they could not
stop, and hence the casualty was ter
rifle. In all religious discourse we
want locomotive power and propulsion.
We want at the same time stout brakes
TO let down at the right instant. 1t is
n dismal thing after "A hearer has COM
pretended the whole subject to hear a
mar say: Now to recapitulate," and
"a few words by way of application"
and "once more" and '.finally," and
now to conclude"
Paul preached until midnight, and
E~utychus got sound asleep and fell out
Of n window and broke his neck. Some
would say: Good for him." | would
rather be sympathetic like Paul and
resuscitate him. That accident is often
quoted now in religious circles as a
warning against somnolence in church.
1t is just as much a warning 10 minis
tiers against %proliNity. Eutychus was
wrong in his s%omnolencc. but Paul
made II mistake when he kept on until
midnight. He ought to have stopped
~ IL o'clock, and there would have
be n no accident. If Paul might have
on to too great length, let all
those OF US who are preaching the
gospel remember that there is a limit
to religious discourse, or ough. to be,
and that in eur time we have 10
apostolic power of miracles.
Napoleon in an address Of seven
minutes thrilled his army, and thrilled
Christ's sermon on the Mount,
the model sermon, was less than eight